Grilled Avocado Recipe

Quick and easy, grilled avocado is a brilliant addition to any backyard barbecue. Avocados become soft and creamy on the grill with a fantastic smoked flavor. They take just minutes to prepare and cook and are an ideal pairing for your favorite barbecued foods. Grilled avocado makes an excellent vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free side, whether left whole, sliced, or used as an ingredient for smoky guacamole.

With grilled avocado, it's best to avoid overcomplicating things. Too much seasoning takes away from the pure taste of the avocado, which is one of life's simple pleasures. This recipe uses lime juice, olive oil, and salt to flavor the grilled fruit. It's easy to scale up, but you don't want to cook too much at once because even cooked avocados don't store well.

Whenever you fire up the grill, this is a quick way to use up ripe and slightly underripe avocados. It's best to cook halves in the skin because slices can easily fall through the grill grates or slip out of your tongs. And, as any avocado lover knows, this fruit will quickly turn brown, so you want to have everything prepared. To prevent oxidation, squeeze or brush lime juice (lemon works, too) on the fruit's flesh immediately after cutting it open and removing the pit. Brush on a little olive oil, sprinkle each half with salt, and they're ready for the grill.

Grab a spoon and eat the grilled avocado as is, right out of the shell. You can also use the avocados as edible bowls, topping them with pico de gallo or grilled corn salad. When carefully removed from the shell and sliced, the avocado makes a great topping for burgers, salads, and tacos as well.